Originally published 9:00 a.m., June 4, 2014Updated 10:00 a.m., June 7, 2014

If only half the accusations that flew back and forth this week in Santa Maria are true, the city is beset by deep-rooted corruption that led to the unlawful firing of one of its longtime police lieutenants, or that lieutenant is guilty of gross incompetence fed by sinister motivation that led to the death of one of his officers.

Lieutenant Dan Ast, a 23-year veteran of the Santa Maria Police Department before he was terminated last March in the wake of the fatally botched arrest of Officer Albert Covarrubias, is challenging his firing to an outside mediator who will submit an opinion to the city manager at the end of the five-day hearing, which Ast and his attorney opted to hold publicly. On Monday, attorney Jonathan Miller said his client was the victim of retaliation after he and two of the city's five police lieutenants filed a whistleblower complaint 12 days before the Covarrubias incident. The 29-year-old Covarrubias, under investigation for a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old member of the department's Explorer program, was shot and killed by a fellow officer on January 28, 2012, when he resisted arrest and fired his own gun during a confusing and violent confrontation at a late-night DUI checkpoint.

Paul Wellman

Attorney Jonathan Miller says Ast was retaliated against and fired after he blew the whistle on police misconduct

In the complaint, the three lieutenants made allegations of widespread misconduct in the department, saying one officer emailed pictures of his penis to a woman and another received oral sex in public. They claimed concealed weapon permits were issued to unqualified individuals and that the department worked an unsafe amount of overtime. But rather than follow proper whistleblower procedures for a report against the department and its then-chief Danny Macagni — like keeping the identities of informers private to protect them from potential backlash — Deputy City Manager Alicia Lara (who is also head of Human Resources), City Manager Rick Haydon, and City Attorney Gil Trujillo immediately notified Macagni, Miller said.

That set off a chain reaction of retaliation including eight unfounded internal affairs investigations and Ast's firing many months later. Miller claimed the city is more concerned with protecting itself from a public relations nightmare than cleaning up “a culture that led to the rape of a minor.” Ast's involvement in the Covarrubias fiasco was “very minor at best,” Miller went on, explaining his client didn't plan the arrest and was following orders that night.

Paul Wellman

Attorney Dennis Gonzales, representing the city, said Ast was motivated by sinister greed

The District Attorney's Office found no crime was committed by the police involved in the attempted arrest, and the city's own investigation and its findings were simply a “hindsight, ramshackled, try-to-cover-ourselves, make-him-look-like-the-bad-guy justification for what they're really doing here,” Miller stated. Six officers had knowledge of or were highly suspicious of Covarrubias's affair but failed to report it; those are crimes that have never been prosecuted, Miller said.

Attorney Dennis Gonzales, representing Santa Maria, argued that Ast orchestrated Covarrubias's arrest despite pointed concerns raised by his troops that the timing and location of the confrontation could lead to disastrous results. Ast chose to ignore those warnings, Gonzales went on, because he wanted to embarrass a rival lieutenant, Rico Flores, whom Covarrubias was serving under. Ast was jealous of Flores and his overtime pay and take-home vehicles, and he wanted to get back at him. “The whole case revolves around money,” Gonzales said.

Knowing that Flores had a reputation for talking openly about confidential information, Ast intentionally told him about the highly sensitive Covarrubias case prior to the arrest so Flores would put himself in a bind, Gonzales asserted. Flores did notify his officers that night — Covarrubias included — that some kind of investigation was taking place and to “mind their Ps and Qs.” That put Covarrubias on high alert. Nine individuals were disciplined after the Covarrubias shooting, but other than Ast, none of them have been publicly named because of privacy considerations. Gonzales also accused Ast of evading the truth when he spoke to investigators. During the struggle that night, Covarrubias was shot three times in the back of the neck by his best friend, Gonzales noted.

Monday was mainly devoted to opening statements, and in the only witness testimony that day, Santa Maria Police Chief Ralph Martin echoed much of what Gonzales said. Martin was hired after Macagni stepped down and issued Ast's termination once he reviewed 1,800 pages of reports and 100 hours of audiotape collected during the city's investigation. Lambasting Ast for “gross misconduct” and lying to investigators, Martin raised his voice, pointed at Ast, and declared: “Albert Covarrubias did not deserve the death penalty.” Testimony continued Tuesday and is scheduled all week. Check independent.com for updates.

Hmmm... I worked with Dan Ast's father at the SBSO. Additionally I had minimal contact with Dan before I retired. Fortunately the precedent in cops being wrongfully terminated is that the arbitrator dismisses the charges and orders the employee reinstated with back pay. The City of Santa Maria has a history of failing to comply with the arbitrator and forcing the employee to sue them. So here we have the case of a cocky little motor cop who dishonored the badge by carrying on an illicit sexual relationship with a female explorer scout. My understanding of what really happened that night was that things unfolded quickly and Lt.Rico Flores called the DUI checkpoint troops together and told them the explorer scout was being summoned to the station and that "something was up". All he was supposed to do was send the girl in. That set off a series of texts back and forth between the motor cop and the girl and he was threatening suicide, declaring that "he was not going to prison".The department could not keep up with these communications yet they sent two sergeants out to meet with the motor cop. One was a highly respected negotiator who also was the motor cop's cousin. What happened next no one expected. After the shooting a number of use of force experts were contacted and they too stated they never would have expected the motor cop to pull out his pistol and fire on his fellow officers. Critics have suggested it was a bad plan yet they fail to realize that most cops are armed or have a gun at hand all the time. The SMPD had fallen into a dysfunctional funk at that time. A number of folks believe Dan Ast was wrongfully terminated by an over zealous former LASO commander hired as the new police chief. He wanted to send a message to the Hispanic Community that he meant business. Isn't it interesting that Ast's boss, former commander Craig Ritz reportedly negotiated some type of a deal with the city. Assuming Dan Ast did not formulate this plan, worst case scenario would set the maximum penalty at suspension without pay for a period of time, not termination. I expect Dan Ast to be exonerated and awarded back pay. He will however find it very difficult to return to the SMPD

The DA's report on the shooting and the chain of events that led up to it indicates former Lt. Ast had a great deal of involvement in the decision-making process during the botched lead-up to the shooting, so I don't agree with his attorney's characterization of Ast's involvement in the matter as "very minor." It was anything but very minor. I can therefore see why SMPD's Chief Martin terminated Ast for failure to follow department policy and the chain of command, but reasonable minds may differ, so the arbitration process seems appropriate here.

I don't know whether Ast was truly motivated by greed or malice, but the actions of now-retired Lt. Flores also precipitated the incident, and allowing Flores to retire without facing the consequences of his lack of professionalism was deplorable.

I'm also inclined to wonder what the hell kind of department former Chief Macagni was running. "Dysfunctional funk" does seem to be an apt description - and that's the fault of Macagni and his command staff.